Obama's China tour to operationalize cooperation agenda

• Source: Xinhua
• [23:09 November 12 2009]
• Comments

 RETURN TO SOUTHEAST ASIA

In Singapore, the second stop on his Asia trip, Obama will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and hold a multilateral meeting with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The president might have an opportunity to meet with the leader of Myanmar.

Glaser said the Obama administration, which recognizes that the previous policy towards Myanmar had been ineffective, has been "very realistic" in seeking another way to engage with Myanmar.

"The relationship in Asia should really not be viewed in zero-sum terms. I don't think that the Obama administration views those relations in zero-sum terms. If we can improve our relations with Burma, it would be good for the whole region," she said.

Glaser said the Obama administration had been "trying to recalibrate and correct" its relations with Southeast Asian nations, "because we have allowed our own relations with the region to weaken in recent years, particularly in the Bush administration."

 ENGAGEMENT WITH PYONGYANG

The Korean Peninsula's nuclear issue is a likely topic to be discussed between Obama and Asian leaders. China, Japan and South Korea are all participants in the six-party talks, which Washington says is the best way to reach the goal of a verifiable denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner.

However, the Obama administration has decided to launch bilateral talks with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) by sending special representative Stephen Bosworth to Pyongyang.

"There's no danger from the US point of view of having bilateral talks replace the six-party talks," said Glaser.

"The Obama administration's interest in having bilateral talks is for the sole purpose of getting back to the six-party talks. So engaging with the North Koreans once, perhaps twice, before there is a reconvening of the six-party talks, that's essentially for the US game plan," she said.

The United States would very much like to see the DPRK "engaged bilaterally with these other countries," she said. "If all of these bilateral components can be activated, and also the six-party talks can resume at the same time, that would be ideal."